Own hat? 3YO?

[worrywortisworrying]

My DD is horse obsessed. I am thinking of getting her her own hat for her 3rd birthday.

Can you please tell me if this is a silly idea? I do not want to buy her toys, so something to do with horses (I am NOT buying her a horse) would be good. a hat seems sensible....

Advice please!

Really depends on if you're going to find her a pony to ride. No point buying a hat before she has the opportunity to ride.

DD started when she was 2 and at that age her head was too small for a skull cap. We therefore started her in a cycle helmet - which had the same safety rating as a riding hat - and moved onto a champion hat sometime between 3 and 4.

She rides weekly, will be bi-weekly from September.

She just borrows one at the mo.

As the first thing to buy, a hat or skull is probably quite sensible. At least you can verify it fits and is free of wildlife.

See if the other girls have skulls and change the covers whimsically, or hats.

It's the 'wildlife' I'm a bit worried about.

She has long hair (which she is most proud of) but getting nits is unacceptable when she is at school. (Had them twice, but obviously not putting it down to the stables).

I just need to minimise risks.

I'd get her one - but it needs to be fitted properly. The good news is that you enter the world of silks as birthday presents, and there is a huge range of those

Where do I go for those CMOTD?

Any tack shop will have a selection, but have a look on ebay - theres all colours and designs. I think ds has about 10 currently, and goes through phases of all of them - hi vis, dalmation print, pom poms etc.

Some riding gloves would be a nice pressie too

Sounds like a good idea since she is riding on a regular basis. Best for her to have her own that fits perfectly and guaranteed to be clean. Was the first horse riding thing I bought when I started riding apart from a pair of jodhpurs. Bring her to an equestrian shop/tack shop to get it fitted properly and try on several. Jodhpurs/horsey socks/horsey top/gloves are good extra present or if someone looking for an idea of what to give her.

I agree with the silks DD has tons of the things which also fit my hat and loves changing them to match mood/ outfit/ particular ponies :D
Have some great therwell pony ones.

Have a snoop round your nearest tack shop, most of them have a kiddies section with no end of horsey goodies. DD particularly likes the horsey sticker books, which now deface decorate most of our feed room.

Yes good idea to buy a hat/silk in a shop where she can be measured properly. We had DD remeasured by the Charles Owen stand at Hickstead last week just to check her head hasn't grown!

We bought DD a purple silk cover last year for Christmas and had her name embroidered in pink on the back of it by the shop. She loves that!

As they grown older you can move into the non-silk shiny hats with vents etc but these tend to be more for teenagers and particularly show jumpers.

I would say not just measured, but try a few different makes for head shape. They vary

Check that when you push the back or front up it does not tilt or roll over her head.

There is very little scope for adjusting the fit.

Ahhh, how cute would a little pony be though. Are you sure you're not getting her one, you're only delaying the inevetable

BTW, when I first set virtual foot in here ds was about the same age, and I said no pony And now we have the cutest little pony who we love very much

I will get her one when (i) she appreciates how much work they will be and (ii) I appreciate how much work they will be.

I have no problem, as such, with a horse, but not until I understand what needs to be done to ensure horse's happiness / wellbeing.

I've just listed a brown velvet silk on ebay-we've got so many that we never used it.

The other posters are right you know.I always said 'no ponies' because I know how much work/how expensive they are.Then I bought 2 in less than 12 months.